Brandon - Portage La Prairie

Here are the trip stats: https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/user/calendar/item/analyze.ftl?id=157452070&r

We woke up today and were on way to Portage La Praire. A few seconds outside of Brandon, I caught up to another cyclist biking across Canada. I am proud of this guy! Visit his website at  http://www.riding4mentors.com/ to see how he turned a very negative situation into a positive experience. Jamie reminded me of one of my best friends who got tangled up with the wrong crowd and made a few bad decisions that spiralled into a downward mess.

I can’t speak about addiction because I have no idea what it is like; however, I am super proud of Jamie and my buddy for being strong enough to one day wake up and realize this was not a life they wanted to live. They both use cycling to stay strong, stay straight, and keep positive, and I think we can all learn a little bit from them in one way or another. Good luck with your goals Jamie and thank you for pushing me to cycle beyond my comfort zone!

Anyways, Jamie and I ripped to Portage La Prairie and then I turned off the highway to meet up with Peggy and Bryan Mitchell (our hosts for the night). We met the Mitchells at the Portage Daily Graphic, where Angela Brown covered our story…Thank you Angela!!!!

http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/2012/07/23/cyclist-traveling-canada-for-parkinson-fundraiser


Bryan is by far the most avid collector of owl memorabilia I have ever met….I would be willing to throw it out there that he may be the most avid collector of Owl memorabilia in the world. Virtually everything in their home has an owl spin on it, and they also have a gigantic owl in their yard (probably will be the world’s biggest owl). I can’t remember how much metal went into constructing this owl but it was intense! http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/greyowl.htm

That evening the Mitchells invited a few folks from the local Parkinson’s support group over. We learned a ton about owls and a few things about Parkinson’s too! One person there had difficulty speaking and she carries Excel Gum with her because it specifically helps increase moisture to her throat which helps her with speaking…another big theme discussed was how difficult driving can become. One of the people gets her husband to do all the driving, but for the other people the thought not being able to drive was extremely difficult.


Two of the folks there had the deep brain stimulation surgery. I asked one of them how they felt about having an invasive surgery like that, and the reply was…I was basically at the point of not being able to do anything, so this surgery gave me the chance to get my life back for a few years at least….I wasn’t that scared going into it because I was already in a terrible place, and I couldn’t be more happy with the results now that I am able to drive again!


I don’t know what the success rate is like for the DBS surgery, but I was happy to hear that it was able to help this person live a better life!


Mrs. Mitchell was an incredible cook and she even claimed she loved to have the opportunity to cook for Elyse and I…the food was awesome and I got a great sleep for the short ride to Winnipeg. Night!

Britle to Brandon MB

This morning we woke up and had breakfast with the Marshalls. Then Hartell (sorry if the spelling is wrong), led me out of Birtle on a bike of a little different style! He let me take the bike for a spin and it is actually so comfy!

Here are the trip stats for today....it was a beautiful day and Norm joined me a pretty good chunk of the ride!

https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/user/calendar/item/analyze.ftl?id=157452068&r


I have mentioned before that I am not the biggest fan of cycling; however, I do have to say it does make me feel very good when I’m finished, cycling seems to be a great outlet for frustration, and is a good way to get away from the world and think clearly for the short period of time I am on the road.


Norm LOVES to cycle…I met him for the first time today and you can tell he has been active throughout his life. He used to play a lot of competitive football and his strength is visibly incredible. Norm has Parkinson’s and cycling is his godsend because he said it keeps him from stiffening up…Norm mentioned that if he doesn’t cycle for a couple days, he really notices the negative side effects; therefore, he gets out as much as possible and it keeps him active and healthy!


Today was our rest day, so I took complete advantage of catching up on previous blogs and enjoying the Lowe’s company. Elyse and Linda spent most of their time with the many family pets in this home. Elyse and I both have dogs and cats back home, so we appreciated having animals around!


Linda is an awesome cook and hooked us up with many great meals, but the most memorable will simply be the kindness of both these individuals. I like animals…but these two LOVE them and the many pets they have had throughout their time together, are very, very lucky!



Norms Bike is wild…it is so light and fast…he said he has been up to as fast as 50mph!!!!! it was a little frustrating to know my bike would not go that fast; however, my bike is a beast and I haven’t even had a flat yet!!!!! This is probably pretty decent advertising for Cervelo, and I should probably ask for a bike from them too!!!!

Esterhazy SK to Birtle MB

So I woke up at 4am because there was a fight that broke out in the campground...A few guys had a little too much to drink and decided they were going to make everyone else’s lives almost as miserable as theirs were. Elyse was lucky enough to snooze through this commotion, so I let her sleep in peace until 6AM and we were off to Birtle MB.



Crossing into Manitoba we lost another hour, and I knew we had to be in Birtle by 2pm because the town knew we were coming and I feel awful when I am not on time. I missed ONE small sign that I had been warned about and ended up biking probably 30km the wrong way on a gravel road; however, we used a compass to get back on track and we eventually made it to Birtle.



I was greeted at the top of a hill by Bob Marshall, before entering the town of Birtle, and he told me there were several children who were waiting to bike into town with me!!!! It was awesome to meet up with the kids and cruise into the middle of town.

The town had organized a greeting for Parkinson’s Cycle of Hope and the Mayor (Dwight Stewart welcomed us to the town). Birtle may be small, but it is beautiful and the folks really came together to support Parkinson`s research and make us feel very special. Having the children join me on the ride was incredible!!! A big thank you goes out to Karen and Bob Marshall for not only hosting us for the night, but also spreading awareness in their town ahead of time!

Crossroads this week even printed an article about us arriving into town, without us even having to contact them!!!



After the gathering, Elyse and I followed Karen and Bob Marshall to their home and Karen hooked us up with unreal sandwiches…we chatted for a bit, aired our wet camping gear out, and then went for Chinese food at the local hot spot!  I have talked over and over again about how many people with Parkinson`s have mentioned exercise is very important to them, but one cool way to keep active, that I never thought about, was to use Nintendo Wii games. The Wii system allows the person to interact in a physical way that actually gets the person up and moving and can vary in intensity, depending on one’s ability….Give it a whirl!!!



Everything was fantastic and Elyse and I were both very tired. It didn`t take long after dinner before I couldn`t keep my eyes open….off to bed I went.

Here are the trip stats for the day: https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/user/calendar/item/analyze.ftl?id=157452061&r

Make sure to click on this link for some very special pictures from visiting Birtle! The last couple pictures are from Brandon MB

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.245915942178338.36279.162105320559401&type=3

A little update!

Just wanted to inform everyone that I'm currently 130 km's east of Winnipeg Manitoba, and I think I have found my groove...my legs feel awesome, and I know what I need to do in order to cover big km's.

I will be entering my home province (Ontario) tomorrow, and I am planning on trying to cover extra km's to get ahead of schedule, because we don't have anyone to stay with from here to Thunder Bay, ON.

Unfortunately, I have stories and information I would like to be sharing with everyone, but I am paying for internet connection as I write this and the expense is going to force those blogs to wait. Please keep an eye on the Parkinson's Cycle of Hope Facebook Page & stay in touch through twitter: @CoryWelsh9

I will basically be cycling/living in the sticks, and I am thinking the phone/internet service will be sub-par at best; however, I will try to take any advantage I can to update these blogs.

I want to leave you with a quote I enjoy:

"To dream anything you want to dream, that is the beauty of the human mind. To do anything you 


want to do, that is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits, that is the 


courage to succeed."


Bernard Edmonds

I'm excited my cycling is getting stronger, and I am eager to test my limits to see if I can get to Thunder Bay a day or two ahead of schedule. As Larry Abbott would say, "Keep Smiling"!

Balcarres to Esterhazy (120km)

Trip Stats:

https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/user/calendar/item/analyze.ftl?id=157163100&r

I don't have much to say for today's ride....it was just biking as normal and the scenery was great!
I should emphasize that I cycled through Abernethy SK today, which is the home of The Bray family and Len Thomspon. For those of you who don't know who Len Thomspon is, he designed some pretty slick fishing lures back in his day! I was given some sweet shirts and Ruffrider Thompson fishing spoons from Mr. Bray! I will have to post those pictures soon!

Here are the links to the FB photos Elyse took over the last couple days: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.245771108859488.36246.162105320559401&type=3

We met up with Jaime from the Miner-Journal and she interviewed us for an article in Esterhazy! Thank you Jaime!!! 

Regina to Balcarres (86km)

Trip Stats

https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/user/calendar/item/analyze.ftl?id=157163099&r


We woke up to crepes, eggs, and a fabulous variety of fruit! Brenda and Rick hooked us up with a mean amount of food for lunch and we were on our way to Balcarres!

The trip to Balcarres is VERY nice...you get off the plain old Trans Can and start heading into some nice scenery; however, the roads are bumpy and don't have a very great shoulder to ride on.

Anyways, everything was golden as I cycled to Balcarres and I was happy to find out it was actually a shorter bike ride than expected!

We arrived at the doorstep of Don and Judy Herschmiller and we were fortunate enough to be welcomed into their home to celebrate their 42nd (I believe) anniversary! They had their family over and it was awesome to be a part of it.  

Judy said she had no clue what we would want to eat, but she did a great job guessing! We had a roast, mash potatoes, and trifle for dessert! After dinner, the family surprised us by presenting a cheque for $920 that was money raised from a soup and sandwhich fundraiser they put on! I told Mr. Herschmiller he must be a great guy if the residents of Balcarres all came out to show their support for him.

The entire Herschmiller familiy seemed to be blessed with artistic talents, and Mr. Herschmiller was a fantastic woodworker! His Parkinson's softened his speech, and has affected his walking; however, he doesn't have tremours and is able to continue creating magnificent works of art! I asked him about his difficulty walking, and he said, "It is like I have to stop and think about taking that first step, or I will fall....after that first step, I could probably run a marathon"! We were talking about different things we have heard that helped people with the freezing of gait. I believe I may have previously mentioned some people carry lazer pointers, someone may simply nudge their foot, music therapy, and several other things that seem to get them through the freezing motion. I am not trying to tell people what to do or how they should do it...simply swapping stories!

We only spent a night in Balcarres but the vibe there was wonderful. It reminded me of the song by Tim McGraw-Where the green grass grows...except I would probably replace corn with canola!

     Here is the video for that song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aENJoceTXA

This town was very small but the people make it a very special place. They even told us a story about a bunch of farmers leaving their own farms and coming together to finish the combining for Tim while he was busy with funeral arrangements. It is always nice to hear the stories about people lending a helping hand!

Anyways, the Herschmiller's son Keith is an incredible photography so we were able to talk him into snapping a few shots and one of them was of Eyse, Don, and me!

Probably the cutest thing of all was seeing this little lady show her support for the Ruffriders!!! Those Saskatchewan Ruffriders sure have devoted fans!

Chaplin to Regina (144km)

Trip Stats:

https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/user/calendar/item/analyze.ftl?id=157163084&r

We packed up our camping gear, stirred our powdered milk into liquid and choked down some Cheerios before heading to Regina. 

All I have ever heard about Saskatchewan was that is was SO flat and you can see for miles. I would tend to disagree and I believe you will never find any cyclists say it is flat. The roads are straight and you can see pretty far but there are nice moraines and rolling hills everywhere and it is incredible to see all the different varieties of green in the fields. Saskatchewan farmers must be pretty pumped to have all this rain.

Elyse contacted all the papers in Regina, but we didn't have any luck with getting someone to spread awareness for us, until Brenda called me to say Global TV was going to meet me on the highway to cover our story. I was jacked she was able to get through to Global and really appreciate Global letting me mumble and stumble on TV! I can't find the article on the internet to share with you, but we were able to catch it on the ten O'clock news that night!

The first person to contact me about Parkinson's Cycle of Hope was Brenda Kilarski and she has been in contact with my mom and I for quite some time now! Brenda and her husband Rick made it very clear that their house was our house and that we were to do all the laundry we needed to do etc.-I think that may have been a hint that I was dirty and smelled bad. Elyse and I left June 20th and did laundry in Vernon BC, Canmore AB, and now here!

Brenda and Rick sure know how to entertain!!! They had bruschetta baking, and we enjoyed a fantastic main course of chicken, ribs, and asiago cheese macaroni....BUT, the best part of all was sharing stories while we picked away at a Peanut Buster Blowup or Bomb or something....I'm not positive what it was called, but I don't think I have ever tasted a better piece of peanut butter paradise...haha I LOVE peanut butter....don't tell Shaylin from Sarnia In-Motion though....I am supposed to be limiting my peanut butter! 

We were given I love Regina shirts and we gave them Parkinson's Cycle of Hope shirts!

  

Brenda mentioned she had a very difficult time deciding how to tell her family she had Parkinson's. 

I remember my dad and mom calling my sisters and I down to the basement for a family meeting. These meetings were usually organized because one of us was in trouble, but I remember not knowing how to react when my dad said he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's. I am the oldest sibling, and I am not one to want to show emotional weakness, but the truth is I knew there was just a lot I needed to learn. My sisters were very upset, but I have found it harder to deal with as I see my old man's symptoms starting to progress. 

I think the point of this is to bring up the idea that being diagnosed with Parkinson's can be very difficult on the person being diagnosed, as well as the family, and each person deals with the news differently. Each person will deal with it differently, but I would love to hear stories about how you decided to tell your family. Maybe I can include your story in my blog to help someone who is going through a similar situation as you.